There is no one clear-cut answer to what seems like a simple question, for the answer has to deal with many aspects implied by the question. Major aspects include:

Nature of work. If most of the work day is spent on field assignments, meetings, site visits and consultations, a smaller office space may be quite satisfactory. However, for office workers who perform their job at their workstation most of the time, a small space may create discomfort due to feelings of confinement. Some job functions that, for example, include frequent meetings in their office space or require the use of multiple sources of material for consultation, research, writing, etc. may be assigned more work space than.

Cultural aspects influence our perception of sufficient space. For North Americans including Canadians, as well as northern Europeans "adequate" personal space is an important factor. For people from other cultures often associated with dense population, much less space could be considered "adequate", or in other words, enough. This can be a significant issue in a multi-cultural society such as Canada.

A corporate climate. Our perception of a designated personal space is a matter of comparison. Employees generally accept the fact that those at higher levels in management positions may have larger offices. However, regardless of how large an individual's space actually is - if it is not as big as what our peers have - then, it is too small.

Individual perception. The amount of space available can have profound psychological meaning. It is natural for people to strive to occupy more space, for "more" space may signify importance, respect and more authority or power. In the workplace the amount of our personal space is often linked with our status within the organization.

Anthropometry (body dimensions). Actual office space requirements depend on the size and shape of employees simply because an office has to accommodate them, enable them to move safely and unhindered in the workspace, and allow them to complete their jobs. A more spacious office would be always welcome (to allow for easier movement, accommodating visitors, and storage), but the table below provides some minimum requirements:

* All sizes are from Panero, Julius and Zelnik, Martin. Human Dimension & Interior Space, New York : Whitney Library of Design, 1979. (Although this is an old reference, no recent information was found that would change these recommended values.)

Are there guidelines on how much space each person needs?

The allocation of the amount of working space for offices, and for workplaces in general, is too complex to expect specific, objective standards that would apply to all kinds of work situations. This is why existing standards and guidelines similar to the ones mentioned above which are based on typical or average body dimensions (see Table 1) specify only the minimum requirements. An example of this kind can be the Canadian federal Treasury Board's minimum space standard which suggests 2.5 m x 3.0 m (8' x 10') for a personal office. These minimum dimensions are average values per person, which means that some offices can be larger than the average and others smaller. These dimensions also include areas that are allocated to common areas (e.g., corridors, washrooms) and "unoccupied" areas taken up by walls and pillars. This means that the actual working space area will be smaller than the "recommended" dimensions.

The Recommended Allocation Guidelines by Public Works and Government Services of Canada derived from Treasury Board document recommend a comparable amount of space: 8.3 m² (89.3 ft²) for office workers.

The National Building Code of Canada provides a more generous yet very general guideline of 9.3 m² (about 100 ft²⁾ per person.

In any case the standards and guides mentioned above and any others should be considered merely as guidelines, rather than absolute standards.

Document last updated on November 7, 2003

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